Fla. company buys 1515 Market, is high on Phila.

December 5, 2014

Accesso Partners has made its first foray into Philadelphia with an $85 million acquisition of 1515 Market St., a 20-story, 502,000-square-foot office building across from City Hall. The Hallendale Beach, Fla., real estate company, which used to be known as Beacon Investment Partners, was one of more than 100 prospective buyers that showed an interest in buying the property. I spoke with Ariel Bentata, co-founder and managing partner of Accesso, about the purchase and the company’s ambitions in the city.

Ariel Bentata

Why did you buy in Philadelphia? We really like what’s happening in the Philadelphia office market. With the conversions of office into residential and diminishing inventory, absorption and firms that are coming into the market and firms that are growing in the market, we think it’s very positive. We’re very excited about it.

Why did you buy 1515 Market St.? 1515 Market is the best location in town. It’s on top of the train, across from City Hall and the renovated Dilworth Park. We like the building. We will be doing some renovations to the building that will increase its value and the tenant experience. We are finalizing those plans and how much we will spend.

Have you looked at buying other buildings in the city? We have been underwriting every deal in the market for the last several months.

Do you plan to buy more We’re very interested in buying other buildings in Philadelphia. When we make a decision to go into a market, we tend to ramp up very quickly. In the last 12 months in the Chicago market, we have acquired 3 million square feet in six different properties. We did this in Houston and we hope to replicate it in Philadelphia. We are actively looking for on-market and off-market deals. We generally invest in central business districts and premier suburban submarkets.